Biotechnological development of domestic rubber producing crops

The biotechnological development of crops used to produce domestic rubber, to achieve significant gains in latex and rubber yield, was described. Molecular approaches appear to be the most suitable approach for making substantial improvements in rubber yield and quality in alternative rubber-producing plant species suitable for cultivation in temperate, rather than tropical, regions. P.argentatum lines developed from conventional plant breeding programs are already being produced on commercial scale. However, a combination of biochemistry-based approaches and genomics and proteomics methods using model systems, could generate the fundamental understanding needed to fully exploit molecular methods and generate significantly improved new lines.